CHAPTER V. 



WITH CHILDREN IN BIRDLAND. 



WHEN the Bird Day movement first found a 

 place in the schools of Southern Aus- 

 tralia, the children sat back and vaguely 

 wondered. They were not quite sure what it was all 

 about. No more so were the teachers. Only a small 

 percentage of the pedagogues had given more than 

 very casual attention to the subject before, and the 

 average teacher is no better (nor worse) than any- 

 one else when faced with the prospect of extra work 

 at the same salary. Thus, the bird-study movement 

 was received with a more or less dignified reserve. 

 There it was, however, backed by a recommendation 

 from the United States, and with it the possibility 

 that, after all, the subject might prove rather 

 pleasant. 



On that first Bird Day I met a school party in the 

 bush in central Victoria. The teacher was "lead- 

 ing" in the fashion of a Zoo-visiting father well in 

 the rear while the kiddies rambled along with an 

 aimless, noisy heartiness calculated to scare every 

 undomesticated creature in the neighborhood. Pre- 

 sently one bright boy spied the nest of a Yellow- 

 tufted Honeyeater. He yelled gleefully, made a 

 hurried grab, and within the next minute was 

 triumphantly presenting the dainty cradle, with its 

 trio of hapless baby birds, to the accredited leader 



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